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WILLIAM H, SEWARD AT THE BAR, 



Trials and Incidents. 



E 






Entered, according to act oi [Congress, in the year eighteen hundred 
and eighty-seven. 

By L. B. proctor. 

In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



THIS work was recently published in the Albany 
Law Journal. At the solicitation of many 
admirers of Mr. Seward, the author decided to pre- 
sent it to the public in the form it now appears. 

The legal career of William H. Seward has never 
before been written except in the detached manner 
in which parts of it appear in some of the memoirs 
written of him. 

A long and intimate acquaintance with him — an 
eye witness to very many of his contests at the 
bar — I trust has enabled me to present a reliable 
description of that great statesman as a lawyer. 

L. B. P. 

Capitol, Albany, April^ 1887. 



WILLIAM H, SEWARD AS A LAWYER. 



REiriE^ir DF HIS LEEilL CAREER. 



WILLIAM H. SEWARD had many qualities that 
iusure eminence at the bar. He was a finished 
classical scholar and an assiduous legal student. A 
minute and rapid observation, a memory at once reten- 
tive and ready, a mind enlarged by immense reading, 
capable of tireless exertion were among his fortunate 
attributes. Reflection presided over all his mental 
efforts, rendering them practical and effective, though 
often, la striving to be accurate, he became too specific 
and prolix. 

Judge Esek Cowen, who always held Mr. Seward in 
high esteem, once said: " William H. Seward is one 
of the most effective reasoners at the bar, rendered so 
by the correct manner in which he demonstrates his 
legal problems; but he is sometimes thought obscure 
from the intellectual effort required to follow him." 

As a speaker at the bar, in the Senate and popular 
assembly, he was not distinguished for showy oratori- 
cal graces, which often give a speaker of inferior 
mental qualities ephemeral popularity. 



6 William IT. Seward as a Lawyer. 

A sprightly writer has eaid, tbat Byron attached him- 
self to the heart; Voltaire to the uuderstauding. Mr- 
Seward always attached himself to the intellect by 
giving his subject an ethical interest, and the in- 
genuity with which he disentangled truth from 
sophistry; still, he knew how to use sophistry with 
skin and delicacy, eiviug It the appearance of veritable 
logic. 

Governor Thomas W. Oilman, of Virginia, In the 
famous correspondence with Governor Seward in the 
extradition case of Peter Jolinson, et al. — charged with 
stealing a negro slave from Virginia — said: "Mr. 
Beward is the most ingenious, deepest, and therefore 
dangerous sophist in the north." But it must be re- 
membered that Governor Gil man wrote this, stimu- 
lated to irascibility by Governor Seward's refusal to 
surrender Johnson and associates, on the ground that 
stealing a negro slave from his master in Virginia was 
not an offense within the meaning of the Constitution. 

There was a calm dignity in Seward's manner when 
speaking, that gave effect to his language; if occasion 
required he could assume a manner quite imposing. 
He used the English language in all its force and 
purity; but with his pen, Seward was more eloquent 
than with his lips. As a writer he had few superiors. 

We have spoken of Seward as a legal student; iu 
reading law he felt the full force of Dugald Stewart's 
remark that " Nothing has such a tendency to weaken, 
not only the powers of invention, but the intellectual 



William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 7 

powers iu general, as the habit of various and extensive 
reading without reflection," and therefore by reflec- 
tion he digested and rendered available every thing he 
read. 

DeWitt Clinton used to say that whatever was worth 
reading once, was worth reading several times. Mr. 
Seward profited largely from this remark of his illus- 
trious predecessor iu the executive chair of the State. 
One of latter's early and favorite text-books was Coke- 
Lyttleton. He often said " I derived my knowledge 
and love of equity law more from Coke-Lyttleton 
than from any other author I read. I regard his pages 
as the fountain head of equity law." 

Seward was assisted iu his legal studies by his ac- 
complished and distinguished preceptors, John Authon 
and John Duer. His intimacy with Ogdeu Hoffman, 
— subsequently styled the " Erskine of the American 
bar " — did much to mould his legal temperament, and 
fit him for the bar. 

It was from such preceptors and such an as- 
sociate that Seward adopted that high-toned and 
liberal system of legal ethics and professional cour- 
tesy, which governed him through all his practice, 80 
he might well have adopted for his motto, the maxim 
of Cicero, " Hoc maxime officii est, xit quisquam max- 
ime opus indigeat, ita ei potissiminn opitulari." " The 
clear point of duty is to assist most readily those who 
most need assistance." 

Early in 1821, Mr. Seward was called to the bar 



8 WiUiam H. Seward as a Lawyer. 

having just attained hie majority. In 1823, he began 
his legal career at Auburn, N. Y. ; his juvenile appear- 
ance was at first against him; the Nestora of the bar 
attempted to brush him one side, as acouceited youth, 
led by his indiscreet ambition into their arena. 

"Does this stripling, this tender legal sprout, expect 
to convince your mature judgments, gentlemen of the 
jury, that his client has a legal right to take this prop- 
erty?" Said the sharp and experienced Sawyer, one 
of the leaders of the Cayuga bar, who was opposed to 
Seward in one of his first cases. 

But the young lawyer when a student in New York 
had seen William Wirt, Thomas Addis Emmet and 
Martin Van Buren in the forum; he had witnessed 
with an observant eye and an exact memory the man- 
ner in which these master minds tried causes; hence 
he was no stranger to the contests of the bar, as his 
opponent soon learned. The successful manner in 
which he conducted his first case brought him favor- 
ably before the public. It was the case of aman.indic- 
ted for stealing a turkey, that first developed the tal- 
ents of Choate; it was in an action of trespass brought 
for breaking a horse's leg that; Webster won his first 
legal laui'els ; it was an assault and battery case that 
called the attention of the people to Wm. Wirt. It 
was for defending a man indicted for stealing "a 
quilted holder, of the value of six cents, and one piece 
of calico of the value of six cents, — his second offense 
— which caused young Seward's opponents to alwayt 



10 William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 

eion, he would, like many opulent young lawyers, 
always have remained only a nominal member of the 
bar. 

He used to say: " I knew I was to support myself by 
the practice of law. I liked the study of law, but only 
necessity reconciled me to the toleration of the teoh- 
uicalities of the practice, to the jealousies and conten- 
tions of the courts. Nevertheless, I resigned myself 
to the practice with so much cheerfulness that my 
disincliuatlon was never suspected." 

How many jn)ung lawyers there are at the present 
time who can appreciate young Seward's resignation 
to the practice of law. The depth of his resignation 
is understood by the fact, that early in his profesaioual 
career, notwithstanding his devotion to politics, he 
rose to considerable distinction. 

When Seward first appeared at the bar, very few 
lawyers veutui-ed to try their own causes. At every 
county seat in the State there was a limited number of 
leading advocates who tried the causes of all other 
lawyers in the county. Seward veiy soon astonished 
the gladiators of the Cayuga bar by trying his owu 
causes. Despite the snubs and rebuffs he received from 
them, he succeeded quite to the satisfaction of his 
clients in trying their causes alone and unaided. 

The Constitution of 1821 opened the Circuit Courts to 
equity jurisdiction. As we have already said, Mr. Sew- 
ard delighted in the practice of the Court of Chancery ; 
he considered equity law in its true and genuine mean- 



William H. Seward as a Laicyer. 9 

beware of him. He pi'oved by an expert that the 
holder was not quilted, but merely sewed, that the 
other article was not calico, but white jeans. But those 
were days of extreme legal technicalities, especially in 
indictments. His client was acquitted, much to the 
delight of the people who thronged the old Auburn 
court-house. 

A fortunate business relation with Judge Miller, 
subsequently his father-in-law, largely advanced his 
professional prospects ; he had been in practice but 
two years when the great presidental contest of 1824 
opened, with Jackson, Clay, Crawford, Calhoun and 
Adams, candidates, and the State of New York, with 
Martin Van Buren as the leader of the Crawford party 
in it, became the battle ground of the campaign. The 
singularly adroit, but successful policy of Van Buren in 
resisting the efforts made by the opponents of Craw- 
ford, to change the mode of electing presidential elec- 
tors, caught the admiration but not the friendship of 
Seward for that wily statesman. Into the presidential 
contest young Seward entered with all the enthusiasm 
of his nature, as the champion of John Quincy Adams 
for president, and DeWitt Clinton as governor. In 
this contest he became inbued with that Ipassion for 
the political arena which; to a large extent ever after 
caused the lawyer to be lost in the politioan. This was 
natural enough, since Seward was never an en- 
thusiastic lover of his profession. It is quite certain 
that had he been wealthy when he entered his profes- 



William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 11 

lag, "the soul and spirit of all law: and that positive 
law is construed, and rational law made by it." It is 
not strange therefore that he became one of the best 
equity lawyers in western New York. 

His first equity case grew out of an assignment for 
the benefit of creditors which he drew when he had 
been in practice but a little over one year. This case 
became famous, and is now known in the reports of 
this State as the leading case of Walieinan \. Orover & 
Qnnn, 23 Wend. 18T. 

His clients, Grover & Qunn, formed one of the 
leading mercantile firms in Auburn. The partners 
were^compelled to assign their property for the benefit 
of their creditors; to young Seward was committed 
the responsibility of drawing the assignment. It was 
a long, voluminous and difficult instrument, severely 
taxing his ability as a draftsman; but at length, with 
careful study, the instrument was completed, and 
then submitted to more experienced lawyers. It 
was pronounced an admirable, strong and impreg- 
nable document, reflecting great credit on the young 
draftsman. But it was destined to be attacked by 
some of the ablest lawyers in the State, among whom 
was Daniel Lord, then a young lawyer a few years 
older than Mr. Seward. 

Grover & Gunn assigned their goods on-hand, their 
debts and other property amounting to $50,000, speci- 
fied in a schedule attached to the conveyance, to three 
individuals in Auburn, upon trust, for the benefit of 



12 William H. Seward as a Latoyer. 

their creditors. With the usual conditions and pro- 
visions in such instruments, there was a clause making 
a preference to certain creditors in the distribution of 
the assigned property depend upon the execution by 
them of a release to the debtors of all claims against 
them. This was one of the principal points of attack 
of the creditors of the assignors, and an action was 
commenced by Mr. Lord, in chancery, to set it aside. 

In their answer the defendants denied all fraud in 
the assignment, unless it was illegal on its face; and 
they insisted it was not. 

In due time the case came before Chancellor Wal- 
worth for argument. Mr. Seward was assisted by that 
illustrious character in the legal history of the State of 
New York, Abraham Van Vechten. Mr. Seward made 
the opening argument in support of the assignment; It 
was his first efi'ort in the great Court of Chancery, and 
he underwent all the embarrassment of his situation. 
Walworth was not an agreeable judge for a legal 
debutant. 

He was perhaps the greatest of our Ainericau equity 
jurists. He bad the learning of Bentham, the indus- 
try and research of Kent. His mind operated with 
geometrical exactness. It had the polish and coldness 
of a Parian marble tablet. He had a disagreeable habit 
of interrupting counsel in the midst of their argument, 
by asking questions that anticipated the point or points 
in the case. Only those who have gone through the 
ordeal of their first argument before a great tribunal 



William H. Seioard as a Laioyer. 13 

can understand the embarrassment of Seward at this 
time. Daniel Webster, on his first appearance before 
the Superior Court of New Hampshire, experienced as 
great embarrassment as did Seward on this occasion. 
When he began to speak, says one of his biographers, 
" his voice was low, his head was sunk upon his breast, 
his eyes were fixed upon the floor and he moved his 
feet incessantly backward and forward, as if trying to 
secure a firmer position. But he soon began to acquire 
confidence, his attitude became erect and he took up 
the thread of his argument in a manner which con- 
vinced the members of the court that a gigantic intel- 
lect was making its first efi'orts before it." 

Seward's manner when he began his argument waa 
very much like Webster's on the occasion we have 
described. To add to his embarrassment the chan- 
cellor began to ply hira with questions and sugges- 
tions; at length, in replying to the chancellor, he 
acquired confidence and courage, and when the ques- 
tions became too frequent the young lawyer paused 
in his argument and took his seat. 

" Why do you not proceed with your argument?'' 
asked the Chancellor in some suprise. 

" I beg leave to say," said Seward, "if your honor 
will permit, that until now, I never understood that 
arguments in the Court of Chancery of the State of 
New York are conducted in the form of a dialogue 
with the court, and not understanding that practice I 
find myself unable to proceed." This was said in a 



14 William R. Seicard as a Latcyei'. 

most respectful but firm manner; it brought the color 
to the face of the chancellor. 

"Proceed, sir, proceed with your argument; you 
shall continue it solus," said the chancellor. No 
further interruption occurred. 

Seward had subjected the case to an exhaustive ex- 
amination and lucid analysis. He enff)rced his argu- 
ment with strength and precision of expression. He 
coml)ined logic and authority with a facility unex- 
pected to those who witnessed the confusion and 
embarrassment with which it was opened. 

He contended that the authority given to the as- 
signees to compound with creditors, upon such terms 
as they should deem proper, did vest in the assignees 
an arbitrary power of giving preference to the several 
claims. It was a matter of discretion with the cred- 
itors in that class whether they should release their 
claims or not. Admitting that any of the provi.'^ions ob- 
jected to are fraudulent in law, still, as there was no 
actual intent to defraud, such illegal provisions do not 
render void the whole instrument; therefoi-e, it 
should, in all other respects, be supported. 

But Mr. Lord was the destined victor in the contest. 
The law concerning assignments in trust for the bene- 
fit of creditors was then comparatively unsettled. He 
bad the gratification of establishing a precedent that 
has a singularly frequent citation, not only in this but 
in other States. It was a fortunate event in Mr. 
Lord's professional life. It gave him retainers in a 



William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 15 

fleries of great trials in State and Federal courts, in 
which the arguments were uiiequaled in splendor and 
learning. It made him indeed iirimus inter pares at 
the bar. 

At length the chancellor handed down a decision 
setting aside the assignment as fraudulent against 
creditors, principally on the ground that it made a 
preference to certain creditors in the distribution of 
the assigned property, to depend upon the execution 
by them of a release to the debtors of all claims against 
them. The case was taken to the Court for the Correc- 
tion of Errors on a writ of error. When the argument 
took place Seward had been elected senator and 
therefore a member of that court, and of course took 
no part in the argument. Benjamin F. Butler and 
Samuel A. Talcott appeared in support of the assign- 
ment and Daniel Lord in opposition to it. 

The decree of the chancellor was affirmed by the 
Court for the Correction of Errors, though some of the 
ablest members of that court wrote exhaustive opin- 
ions in favor of reversing it. 

Notwithstanding Mr. Seward's defeat, the case 
established his reputation as an equity lawyer. 

We should have said that Mr. Seward's first equity 
case was a defense of a freeholder and bona fide pur- 
chaser of a military lot under a title derived from a 
soldier — to whom it had been patented by the State. 
The bill was filed by a lawyer in New York city, and 
was based upon title which bore strong marks of for- 



16 William H. Seioard as a Lawyer. 

gery. After about two years Seward dismissed the 
complaiut. The default was opened through the ef- 
forts of another lawyer ; but after several years Sew- 
ard again took a default. Aaron Burr was then re- 
tained for the complainant. Through his remarkable 
skill as a lawyer he succeeded in opening the default* 
amending the complaiut, and placing the case in a for- 
Dtiidable attitude. But it was not finally disposed of 
until 1850, many years after Mr. Burr's death, when it 
was decided in Mr. Seward's favor. It was known as 
the "never ending or Crowder case." It was the 
Jarnidyce v. Jarnidyce case, of the Court of Chancery 
of the State of New York. 

In 1828, he was elected to the State Senate, from the 
seventh district. He was then only twenty-seven 
years of age and the youngest member of a parliamen- 
tary and judicial body, composed largely of the ablest 
lawyers in the State. Among them were N. P. Tal- 
madge, Wm. H. Maynard, Albert H. Tracy and Henry 
A. Foster. 

The portrait of Seward in the executive chamber in 
the capitol at Albany, vividly illustrates his appear- 
ance when he took his seat in the Senate of the State 
of New York although he appeared still younger than 
the picture represents, as we have often heard him re- 
mark. 

For a long time he was a silent, but studious observer 
of the proceedings of the Senate. "The judicial 
responsibilities of the Senate," he remarked, "es- 



Williain H. Seicard as a Lawyer. 17 

peoially fascinated me. I listened attentively to 
great men who argued great questions of law and 
equity, and I cast my vote as a judge in determining 
controversies, and establishing principles fuudamental 
in the administration of justice." 

But there came a time when he was no longer the 
passive and silent judge, when there was but one 
member of the Senate regarded as his superior as a 
legislator or a judge; this was the learned, eloquent 
and versatile Mayuard. His early death cut short a 
brilliant career as a lawyer and statesman, and opened 
a field for the etlU greater abilities of Wm. H. Seward 
as a statesman. 

The period succeeding the Constitutional Con- 
vention of 18;^!, witnessed a large accumulation of 
business in all the courts of this State, 'particularly in 
the Court for the Correction of Errors. As a member 
of this court, Seward exhibited judicial abilities, show- 
ing that had his ambition led him to the bench, his 
name would rank among those of the great judges 
whose careers embellish the history of the nation; but 
the history of the State would have missed a name 
resplendent among her most illustrious statesmen. 

We give the following among the numerous opinions 
he wrote while a!member of the Court of EiTors, which 
exhibit his industry and ability as a judge, and his 
learning as a lawyer. 

Williams V. Bank of Michigan, 7 Wend. 65i; Wood 
V. Jackson, 8 id. 37; LiviJigaton v. Peru Iron Co., id. 



18 William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 

628; Oai-y v. Gomes, 9 id. 6G0: Daih v. Packard, 10 id. 
63; Jacksonv. Fitssimmons, id. 16; Jackson v. Rob- 
berts, 11 id. 441 ; Parks v. Jacksoji, id. 466. 

If in learning, research and judicial penetration, the 
opinions delivered by Mr. Seward do not equal those 
of that great judicial triumvirate — Nelson, Cowau and 
Bronson, or that other gigantic legal mind, Ambrose 
Spencer, — we must remember they were delivered 
by a young lawyer under thirty years of age. 

He left the Senate in 1834. In the autumn of that 
year he was nominated by the Whig party a candidate 
for governor in opposition to Wm. L. Maroy. He was 
defeated, but as he said " the wounds of his defeat 
were nearly painless in the reflection that he was 
atriokeii down by so great and illustrious a champion 
as Wm. L. Marcy." 

After this election of 1834 he entered the turbulent 
and exciting political arena a prominent leader, with 
his constant and uudeviating friend, Thurlow Weed, 
prominently in those events wliich again placed 
him in nomination for governor in the fall of 1838. 
This campaign in 1838 resulted in his triumphant 
election a.s governor of the State over his for- 
midable, and heretofore successful opponent, Mr. 
Marcy. 

Mr. Seward's executive duties removed him entirely 
fiotn the bar over four years. He retired from 
the gubernatorial chair, returned to Auburn and 
resumed tlie practice (tf his profession at the 



William H. Seioard as a Lawyer. 19 

head of that distinguished firm, Seward, Morgan 
& Blatchtord. Mr. Morgan was a distinguished law- 
yer of western New York, having represented Cayuga 
district in Congress with marlced ability, and in 1847 
was elected Secretary of State. Samuel Blatchford, 
the junior member, was a highly educated brilliant 
young lawyer who had been private secretary to Mr. 
Seward while governor. In his subsequent career at 
the New York city bar he rose to such distinction that 

'^ he was elevated to the bench of the United States Su- 

■% preme Court. 

But Mr. Seward's future legal career was destined to 
be comparatively short thoughreniarkably brilliant; It 
covered a period of a little over four years. During this 
time he was engaged in several cases which enroll his 
name forever among the great lawyers of his country, 
not only in the magnitude of the cases, but in the 
ability he displayed in conducting them. 

The history of one of these cases. The People v. Free- 
man, has been so often described that it would be the 
■work of supererogation to enter on any description of 
it here. Yet, as it was our privilege to sit near Mr. 
Seward during all that great trial, and the one tried at 
the same term scarcely less memorable, T/ie People v. 
Wyntt, we cannot refrain from some reference to 
them. 

Never shall we forget the scene in the courthouse 
when Freeman was arraigned at the bar to plead to the 
indictments found against him for the horrible mur- 



20 William H. Seicard as a Latcyer. 

ders he had committed. Packed withiu the large 
courtroom was an immense crowd of angry people 
who could hardly restrain their indignation as he 
stood in the bar before them. The officers of the court 
were palid with fear lest he should be taken from them 
by force and hanged in the streets. 

"Do you plead guilty, or not guilty?" asked the 
district attorney. 

Amidst the silence of midnight, an ominous silence 
presaging a fearful storm, Seward arose calm, dignified 
and impressive. 

" If the court please, I enter the plea of not guilty, 
and that plea is founded on the insanity of the pris- 
oner." 

An angry murmur ran through the court room; 
mingled with threats of personal violence to Mr. 
Seward. After settling the lime for the trial. Freeman, 
uuder the protection of a strong guard, was removed 
from the bar and the concourse of people left the 
court house; on every side were heard taunts, threats 
and execrations against the intrepid advocate, who, 
in the line of his professional duty, had dared to stand 
between an enraged populace as the defender of one 
who had committed the foulest murder that stains the 
history of the State. 

The defense of Freeman, though unsuccessful, was 
undoubtedly the njost brilliant of Mr. Seward's pro- 
fessional life; it was one of the last of his cases. It 
did for him more, perhaps, than the conduct of an}- case 



Willia/m H. Seward as a Lawyer. 21 

iu the State, did or could do for any other lawyer iu 
giving him fame and perpetuating his name. But 
great as was that defense the moral effect of his de- 
fense of Henry Wyatt equaled, if it did not exceed the 
defense of Freeman. 

Wyatt, a convict in Auburn prison, was brought to 
trial iu June, 1846, for a cruel, terrible murder of a 
fellow prisoner. 

In this case Mr. Seward inLorpcjsed the defense of 
moral insanity. That subtle plea which insists that 
''persons who were Ihe subjects of natural or con- 
genital dei'angement, are not morally accountable, be- 
cause though they may know an act to be wrong, can- 
not refrain from doing it, being irresistibly compelled 
to its commission." 

Seward proved by abundant medical authority that 
the manner in which Wyatt had been whipped by the 
"cat ".in the prison by blows on his bare baclc, upon the 
spinal column, affected the brain, often producing in- 
sanity. In order to prove the manner in which the 
" cat," an instrument equalling in cruelty the Rus- 
sian " knout," was then used in Auburn prison, the at- 
tendance of the warden with the record which the law 
compelled him to keep showing which convicts had 
been whipped and how, was subpoenaed before the 
court. But the warden, a powerful framed man, was 
determined Seward should not examine this record 
of torture. When called to the stand he laid the book 
on the table at which Mr. Seward sat on the opposite 



22 William H. Seward as a Laxnyer. 

side. Reaching forward, he was in the act of takinR 
up the boolj, when the warden fiercely withdrew it, 
saying: "This book is not designed for your inspec- 
tion, sir, and you shall not see it." 

The attorney -general, John Van Buren, arose and 
attempted to sustain the warden; but Seward draw- 
ing himself up till his form appeared gigantic, said in 
au impressive manner: 

" One nioniont, Mr. Van Buren, I have the right to 
speak now, and you have not that right; the place of 
the attorne3'-general is now in his chair." Van Buren 
took his seat. 

"Your honors," continued Seward turning to 
the judges, " in the name of Justice, iu the name 
of all that centers in and around her halls, in be- 
half of this venerable court, I ask that this man 
be now compelled to give into my hands that re- 
cord which he is now attempting to withhold from 
me." 

It is said that Mrs. Siddons, the great English actress, 
was nevermore applauded than in the pose she assumed 
when dismissing the guests in the banquet scene in 
Macbeth, when the ghost of Banqno appears. There 
was something akin to this, in Mr. Seward's appeal to 
the court on this occasion. 

*' Witness," said the judge, " you will immediately 
deliver to Mr. Sewnrd the book you hold." For a 
few moments the warden hesitated, and then reluc- 
tantly surrendered the record. 



WiUicnn H. Seward as a Lawyer. 2S 

Turning to one of the pages of the book, Seward 
read as follows : 

"Ou this 27lh day, September, 1845, Henry Wyatt, a 
convict, was sentenced to fifty lashes on his bare back ; 
but ou removing his clothing his back was found to 
be so seamed, scarred, cut and ridged by previous 
whippings, that the sentence was chEuged to the effect 
that he should receive the lashes ou his bare legs in- 
stead of his back." 

"Great God!" said Seward as he laid down the 
book, " what a record of torture, suffering and horrors 
to induce insanity does this record reveal. 

" Well may the oflQcers of the prison shrink from re- 
vealing its shocking details to the public. I insist, it 
was that which unsettled the mind of Henry Wyatt, 
rendering hira irresponsible for the act which has 
placed him at this bar to be tried for his life." 

Mr. Seward's argumeiit to the jury in the case of 
Wyatt was one of his most powerful forensic efforts. 
It equals in many respects Erskine's defeu.-e of Had- 
field, under a similar plea. But Wyatt was convicted 
and executed. His trial however has opened the eyes of 
the public and the Legislature to the horrors of the 
whipping-post in prisons, and by a statute, passed the 
following winter, they were banished from all the 
prisons in the State. 

Seward went to his grave conscious that the execu- 
tion of Wyatt was little less than judicial murder. 
He was more fortunate in the case of Freeman, who 



wm^^K^^^^^^^m^si^KSf^pm 



24 William H. Seicard as a Lawyer. 

was oouvicted and sentenced to be hanged. But the 
judge who presided at his trial, in his several rulings 
on challenges to jurors, in one instance, instructed the 
triers of J., a juror who had been drawn on the panel, 
and challenged to favor, that as a matter of law, a hy- 
pothetical opinion of the guilt of a prisoner did not 
disqualify a juror, The judge also refused to permit 
evidence to be given that Freeman was insane after 
the finding of the verdict upon the preliminary ist<ue, 
and excluded the opinions of professional witnesses 
from the observation of him, after that time, as to his 
insanity when the ofifense was committed. To these 
and other rulings exceptions were taken, and the case 
went to the Supreme Court. 

In October, 1846, thejoase was argued before the Su- 
preme Court, at Albany, by Mr. Seward for the plain- 
tiff in error, and by John Van Buren, attorney-general 
of the State, and Leeman Sherwood, district attorney 
for Cayuga county, for the people. Seward's brief in 
that case was one of the most learned, comprehensive 
and exhaustive ever presented to the old Supreme 
(^ourt. 

The late Nicholas Hill, whose own splendidly-pre- 
pared and powerful briefs scanned every principle of 
statute and common law, and every conflicting prece- 
dent, pronounced it the most learned and able docu- 
ment of the kind he ever had the pleasure of reading. 

In January, 1847, the opinion of the court, by Mr. 
Justice Beardsle}-, an opinion of unequalled learning 



William K Seward as a Lawyer. 



35 



and research, such as that great jurist wrote almost 
by intuition, was handed down, grantiuR Freeman a 
new trial, on the exceptions we have mentioned, with 
others. The case is reported in 4 Den. 9. By the sin- 
gular frequency with which it has been cited, it is 
natural to regard it as a sort of legal Mecca attracting 
hordes of professional pilgrims in search of its riches. 

Pending the new trial Freeman died. A thorough 
autopsy of his brain revealed the fact that he had 
been the victim of hopeless insanity for years; that 
when he committed the awful homicides for which he 
was tried he was very near dementia. So that, as has 
been said, "his death sentence was an address to a 
creature who could not understand a word of it, and 
who was the only one in the court-room who was un- 
conscious of the result of the trial." 

"The poor idiot, roused from his cell, was brought 
into the court room, and ordered to stand up. As he 
was so deaf, the judge directed him to be brought 
close to his side, and leaning over from the bench said 
to him: 

" The jury say you are j^uilty. Do you hear me ? " 

"Yes." 

"The jury, I tell you, say you are guilty. Do you 
understand me? " 

"No." 

"The jury who tried you say you killed Van Nest. 
Do you understand that ? " 

"Yes." 



mm 



26 William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 

" Did you kill Vaa Nest ? " 

" Yes." 

" I am going to pass seulenoe upou you now. Do 
you understand that?" 

"No." 

" I am going to sentence you to be hanged. Do you 
understand that?" 

"No." 

The judge then went through the form of pronounc- 
ing the sentence of death upon him. 

To our own personal observation the verdict in this 
case Was, in a large degree, the result of popular ex- 
citement almost unprecedented. While the jury were 
deliberating, the court house was surrounded by an 
immense multitude of excited people ready to vo- 
ciferate the cry " crucify him," " crucify him I " It is 
more than probable had the jury failed to convict 
Freeman, the jail would have been stormed and the 
poor wretch hanged in the streets and perhaps the 
personal safety of Mr. Seward endangered. 

But " time, the friend, the avenger, and adorner of 
the living and the dead," brought a triumph to him, 
that has placed his name not only among the great 
lawyers of the Republic, but among its most magnani- 
mous philanthropist. 

Considering the brilliant and successful manner iu 
which the attorney-general, John Van Buren, con- 
ducted the prosecution, we have always regarded it 
singular that so little commendation has been awarded 



William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 27 

him. His efforts in the cases of Wyatt and Freemau 
lose uothiug when compared with those of his great 
oppouent. His success in these cases against the all- 
powerful defense of Seward, were victories seldom 
won in the contests of the forum. Their brilliant 
prestige should have shielded him from the results of 
his defeat in that Trafalgar of legal battles, the Forest 
divorce case. 

In 1842 Mr. Seward, associated with S. P. Chase, 
argued the great case of Van Zandt v. Jones, in the 
United States Supreme Court, for the defendant, 
against James T. Morehead of Kentucky, for the 
plaintiff. 

This action was brought in the Circuit Court of the 
United States for the District of Ohio, by Wharton 
Jones, of Kentucky, against John Van Zandt, of Ohio, 
to recover a penalty of $500. for harboring and con- 
cealing Andrew, the plaintiff's slave, in violation of 
the act of Congress. 1793. The jury, under the charge 
of the court, rendered a verdict for the plaintiff. The 
defendant moved for a new trial, and an arrest of 
judgment. The cause came into the Supreme Court 
of the United States on a certificate that the judges 
of the Circuit Court were divided in their opinions 
upon the questions stated in the argument. Counsel 
for the plaintiff, Mr. Seward, made the closing argu- 
ment for the defense. His review of the case of 
Gibbon v. Ogden, decided in the United States Su- 
preme Court by Chief Justice Marshall, which the 



n^m 



28 WiUiuyn H. Seward as a Laicyer. 

counsel for the plaintiff contended was iu his favor, 
proves that Seward was not only an exceedingly well- 
learned far-sighted lawyer, but a close legal reasoner. 
He closed his argument in the following beautiful 
and impressive language : " For ourselves, humble ad- 
vocates in a great cause, we cannot hope, we dare not 
hope, we do not expect, that principles which seem to 
us so reasonable, so just and truthful, can all at once 
gain immediate establishment in this tribunal, against 
the force of many precedents and the weight of many 
honored names. But we do humbly hope that past ad- 
judications, by which the Constitution was unneces- 
sarily declared to i-ecoguize and guaranty slavery, may 
be reconsidered. We appeal to the court to restore to 
that revered instrument its simplicity, its truthful- 
ness, its harmony with the Declaration of Independ- 
ence, its studied denial of a right of property in man, 
and its jealous regard for the security of the people. 
We humbly supplicate that slavery, with its odious 
form aud revolting features, and its dreadful preten- 
sions for the present and for the future, may not re- 
ceive iu this great tribunal now, sanction and coun- 
tenance, denied to it by a convention of the American 
States more than half a century ago. Let the spirit 
which prevailed in that august assembly only find ut- 
terance here, and the time will come somewhat more 
speedily, when throughout this great empire, erected 
ou the foundation of the rights of man, no court of 
justice will be required to enforce involuntary obliga- 



William H. Seward as a Lawyer. 29 

tiona of labor, aud uphold the indefensible law of 
physical force." 

In 1851, Mr. Seward defended Abel F. Fitch aud 
others iu the Supreme Court of Michigau at Detroit. 
This was a defense that centred the eyes of the nation 
upon him. This great trial grew out of an alleged de^ 
liberately executed conspiracy by citizens of Leoni, 
Michigan, of whom Fitch was the supposed leader for 
the entire demolition of the rails and structures on 
the Michigan Central Railroad. There is much iu 
this case that gave it dramatic interest. Mr. Seward's 
defense in a trial that continued many months, against 
the ablest lawyers in the nation, equaled if it did not 
excel all his former efiforts as a jury lawyer. Some 
parts of his address to the jury, like William Wirt's 
historic denunciation of Aaron Burr, have been pub- 
lished in elocutionary works, and mouthed and ranted 
by school boys, for many years. After Mr. Seward's 
election as senator in Congress, February, 1849, he vir- 
tually retired from the profession, though he occa- 
sionally appeared at the bar, as in the case of Fitch, 
to which we have alluded. In 1851 he conducted the 
argument for the plaintiff iu the case of the Pittsburgh 
Iron Co. V. The State of Petinsylvania. His opponent 
was Jeremiah Black. 

In 185S he argued the Albany Bridge case in the 
United States Circuit Court in the city of New York. 
As his argument continued over two days it was ex- 
ceedingly exhausting, mentally and physically. 



30 William H. Seward as a, Lawyer. 

The real point in the case was somewhat analogous 
to the points now raised against the construction of an- 
other bridge over the Hudson. It was " whether, re- 
garding the public travel and transportation across the 
bridge by railroad cars, and also the business depend- 
ent upon a free navigation of the river, the bridge 
could lawfully be built." 

Thus we have briefly sketched the career of William 
H. Seward at the bar. 



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